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February 21, 2003/Adar1 19 5763, Vol. 55, No. 26
Cabinet OKs mass Ethiopian aliyah
MATTHEW GUTMAN
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
TEL AVIV - The Israeli Cabinet's decision this week to find the swiftest way to bring thousands of Ethiopians to Israel has reignited a controversy over how - and if - to deal with the potential immigrants.
On Feb. 16, the Cabinet approved a plan to im-mediately bring to Israel some 18,000 to 20,000 Falash Mura, the majority of whose ancestors converted from Judaism to Christianity.
In recent years, thousands of Falash Mura left their homes in outlying areas of Ethiopia and moved to camps run by immigration activists in Addis Ababa and the northern city of Gondar, where they wait to be cleared for immigration.
Activists concerned about the fate of the Falash Mura applauded the Cabinet's decision, which opponents condemned for being unrealistic, impossible to implement and contrary to Israel's Law of Return.
The plan, initiated by Interior Minister Eli Yishai of the fervently Orthodox Shas Party, could cost cash-strapped Israel $2 billion - or about 5 percent of the government's total annual expenditures.
When Israel began carrying out large-scale immigration operations of Ethiopian Jews in the early 1990s, many Falash Mura attempted to join the wave, claiming they were Jewish by ancestry.
The number of Falash Mura continued to grow, leading the Israeli government to believe they were not Jews, but just wanted to leave famine-plagued Ethiopia.
Ethiopian Jewish activists have been lobbying for the Falash Mura, maintaining that many of them were forced to convert or never really abandoned their Jewish faith.
In 1998, after bringing a group of 4,000 Falash Mura, most of whom had relatives in Israel, the government changed its policy, reviewing each Ethiopian immigration request on an individual basis.
According to Absorption Minister Yuli Edelstein, the Falash Mura have no right to immigrate to Israel.
"Not one of them is eligible" under the Law of Return, "which itself is often considered too liberal," he said.
Shas initiated its plan to rescue the Falash Mora more than a year ago, when the party's spiritual leader, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, issued a ruling calling for "saving the souls of Israel."
The government has suggested circumventing the Law of Return with regard to the Falash Mura, indicating that the group could be brought over under the seldom-used Law of Entry.
In the past, the government used the Law of Entry to grant citizenship to foreigners for humanitarian reasons and for family reunification.
Israel's Law of Return allows immigration for anyone with at least one Jewish grandparent, along with his or her spouse, children, grandchildren and their spouses.
Knesset member Adisu Massala, himself an Ethiopian immigrant, concedes that the Falash Mura are not Jewish according to halachah, or Jewish law.
"Anyway," he said "the arguments about the Law of Return are baseless."
The Finance Ministry estimates that the process costs $100,000 for each Ethiopian immigrant.
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